Alabama

3:09 pm

Wed November 5, 2003

Lawyers Ask for Fees in Ten Commandments Case

Montgomery, AL – A lawyer who argued against Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument says plaintiff's attorneys will ask for about 832 thousand dollars in fees for the case. Ayesha Khan, an attorney for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says the groups will ask U-S District Judge Myron Thompson to approve the fees. Chief Justice Moore says that's Alabama taxpayer money. He says if Thompson awards the fees, it would just add to the problems caused by Alabama's declining revenues and rising legal costs in other cases. When his legal issues first began, Moore and his supporters said Alabamians would not have to pay any of the legal costs related to his case, saying those costs would be taken care of by other interests. But Moore's recent remarks indicate that probably will not happen. Moore installed his Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building rotunda nearly two-and-a-half years ago. It was removed by court order in August.